Housekeeping

The washing keeps on mounting up, but Anne and Cathy can't seem to get the gist of Italian irons.

Italy is a very difficult place to get the internet. The house had WiFi (non-functional); MacDonalds had .. well, you know about that; and finally I've found a place in Florence where this blogging has happened. The Rome apartment doesn't have internet, so I don't know when we'll meet again.

Sunset over Tuscany

Roses are blooming in Picardy, but not this one.

Peter's afternoon

Driving home, Peter suffered the ultimate indignity - being passed, downhill, by a Renault 2CV

It drove him to the icy pool, to cool off

We left him to dry in this net thingo

and then sent him to the galley to barbeque lamb chops.

Chianti

"Who's there?"

Driving through Chianti.

While the countryside is spectacular, Cathy found driving on the single-lane raods, with hair-pin bends and large trucks a little stressful.

But she managed beautifully

And on to San Gimignano

The old town is beautiful, and tramping the streets keeps you fit

It is a bit like Manhatten, isn't it? (Just a little bit)

Shoppers at work.

The inevitable lunch, with a nice little rose a Chianti.

Around Siena

Arty photo by Anne, of a part of the moon rising over a part of Siena.

Shiny lights in the dusk, as we wend our way out of Siena.

At rest in our Siena house.

We visited MacDonalds to use their "free" WiFi. They opened 20 minutes late, and wouldn't let us use the Wifi until we were registered. How do you register? On tghe internet, of course. But ........

Peter persisted in trying to get Wifi, and in the end, they let us try to register. BUT, you need to supply a mobile phone number, so they can SMS you the code. BUT an Australian mobile phone number isn't acceptable in Italy, so ..... All we had to show for our efforts was a cheeseburger and ordinary coffee. (Do you want fries with that?)

Assisi - Siena

Lunch after walking through Assisi

Piazza St Claire, outside Basilica St Claire.

We couldn't find any monuments to St Catherine of Siena, so the following will have to do.

On the Piazza in Siena. This is where they hold Il Palio, but it was much quieter today.

Siena - Assisi

View from our house near Siena

View from the front door. That's Siena in the distance. (We're about 3 km from the house we rented in 2000, Jen)

Franciscan monastery at Assisi

Church of St Francis, Assisi

Goodbye Padova

Alfresco lunch in the botanical gardens

Peter dreaming

Another lovely garden in Padova

Height appropriate mail boxes. The Italians think of everything (and then charge for it)

The running gag

Anne insisted we take thbis photo .................

..... and this one .....................

..................... and this one ...........................

.... and this. She claims that this is one of her best efforts yet. I think this was the first time Peter was truly embarassed at her behaviour. (Maybe it was the trumpeting).

San Antonio

We caught the Padova tram to the Cathedral San Antonio because of its name and the fact that Sunday morning mass was on at a reasonable time. (11.00 a.m.)

Here we are, post-mass, in St Anthony's church.

We didn't eat at St Anthony's ristorante, but we could have.

We looked for messages from St.Anthony, but couldn't find any (a deep, Padovian joke).